From The Abbeydale Brewery in Sheffield comes ‘Salvation‘ a Coffee & Donut Stout, brewed in collaboration with local coffee company Roastology & bakers Forge Bakehouse. Complex Aromas of coffee and chocolate appear on decanning. The pour into the glass gives a good head generation that drops off to a thin off white skin. The pour is thick and black with average carbonation. The taste is intense coffee chocolate with burnt malt flavours and a mildly smoked bittersweet aftertaste. The donut element is completely lost on me, but the mouthfeel and body are great and this is a cracking indulgent stout that ticks all the boxes!

Abbeydale Brewery – Salvation ‘Coffee & Donut’ Stout

Salvation No 5 : “Prepare to be granted salvation – the dark and brooding stouts and porters series from our small batch brewers emporium range. Salvation No. 5!

Rotating with each iteration, our salvations take inspiration from all manner of our favourite flavours. This version uses a specially created blend of coffee from Sheffield based Roastology. Vanilla pods, brown sugar and a hint of lemon – inspired by the doughnuts from our neighbours at Forge Bakehouse. Guaranteed to provide a delicious “treat in a glass” feeling! “

From the guys at Heist Craft Brewing comes First Heist, which is a session IPA at 4.8% from an ambitious craft beer and bottle shop who singlehandedly reinvigorated the beer scene in the village of Clowne in Chesterfield. This is their first beer, which is a limited edition, Session IPA featuring Simcoe, Centennial & Motueka hops. This first brew was commissioned by the RAW Brewing Company in Derbyshire.

First of all, a clean hop aroma dominates on decanning, not overly complex, however some citrus fruit presence in the nose. A mild to moderate bittering presence is perceivable, (yet short lived) in the taste with a minor sweet malt presence. Carbonation is average to high for the style, but pleasantly lends to a good body presence to this type of beer. The appearance is healthy, presenting a orange/golden glow with a hint of haze. The head generation is also surprisingly good with a good thick lingering finger width remaining throughout the life of the beer. Interestingly, as the beer warms, an orange zest aftertaste also pokes through with the bitterness to give a pleasant beer experience.

Now as far as descriptions go, a session IPA may be the only thing wrong about the beer. An American Pale Ale would suit this beer much better. The ‘session’ aspect is a bug bearer due to the volume and price, but drop the price a little and they may be onto something really good. For a first commercial attempt, this is looking quite good. Nothing is bold or overstated, perhaps a little safe, but it gets my vote.

From The Northern Monk Brew Co in Leeds, comes a Double India Pale Ale called A Newer World DDH. Decanning gives a big fruity aroma of resinous citrus, melon, peach and tropical fruit. The pour is mildly carbonated, generating a average white head. The beer is semi cloudy, suggesting an wheaty element or a non flocculent yeast presence. The wheat presence also adds a spot of underlying sweetness. The mouthfeel is not as expected or amazing for the ABV, being borderline watery which is slightly odd. The bitterness is relatively mild, however a pleasant chalkiness supports the base malt and understated allowing the hop presence to come through nicely. A nice double IPA from an excellent brewer.

A Newer World – DDH Imperial India Pale Ale

“The first beer we ever brewed was New World IPA. In celebration of our 500th batch, we’ve brewed a doubled up version using some of our favourite hops. Dry hopped with a combination of Mosaic, Amarillo, Simcoe and Chinook and fermented with a blend of three yeast strains. ”

If you are reading this post, it is likely that you have just about decided to make the bold step of moving from canned home beer brewing kits into the realm of all grain beer. First of all, Well done! The move will see you make substantially better quality beer for you and your friends to enjoy. You may also be aware that this is a slightly daunting endeavour, both in time, energy and equipment costs. If you have ever met an all grain home brewer, you will probably know that he or she spends a great amount of time moaning about cleaning brewing equipment, than actually brewing beer.

Stainless Steel Home Brewing Equipment

Investing in good cleaning materials is also fairly important. So, what will you need to get your new hobby (or upgraded hobby) off the ground? First of all, think big. Look to produce a minimum of around 5 gallons (23L) of wort per batch as a minimum. The following list is a growing one based around my personal setup, and each home brewer will use a variety of different tools.

On the way down to Devon, we decided to stop off at the Brewhouse & Kitchen Pub/Restaurant at Gloucester Quays. This place looks pretty impressive, the bar and eating area is open plan, with beer bottle decor and pays homage to the Brewpub side of things pretty well.

Brewhouse and kitchen Bar area

This place is almost a craft beer heaven. The brewpub creations are available as hand pulled ales and the draught ales on the back wall include the likes of Beavertown, a couple of independent breweries and some macro beers offerings. There’s a good range of bottled Belgian ales and craft beer bottlings too. All the back wall draught beers come with custom shaped handles, something that i have not seen before in the U.K, however I’m guessing this will result in a reluctance to vary the offerings. All the glassware offerings are pretty good, sporting modern designs and minimal branding. You can also purchase said glassware for a reasonable price.

SSBanner American Pale Ale – 4.5%

The first beer I tried was SSBanner American Pale Ale at 4.5% ABV. It came in at around £4.20 a pint and was a pretty decent pour (for Hand pull) giving a nice amber colour, generating a decent head and low/average retention. The beer also has low carbonation, which is to be expected. There was a slight whiff of citrus aroma on the pour, however, this quickly disappears to nothingness and is replaced by sweet malt. The taste is moderately bitter with a hint of bittersweet at the end with some fruitiness coming through. Body is really quite watery and unpleasant. Overall, this beer could use more aroma hops for a APA and hold back on the bittering hops somewhat. I don’t think this beer was representative of the style at all and I found this disappointing.

Brewhouse and Kitchen-SSBanner American Pale Ale

SSBanner American Pale Ale Pint

#WallsLayoff Unfined Wheat Beer – 5.0%

The second brew was #WallsLayoff Unfined Wheat Beer at 5.0% and around £4.50 a pint. The pour was a bit thin, with a micro head generation. The aroma is all banana and yeasty. The appearance is non carbonated, slightly hazy and golden, and the taste is really quite watery and lacks body (again!) but I think this is partly due to a lack of any carbonation and potentially some mashing temp issues. The taste is also initially sweet, followed by an odd aftertaste on the way to sour. This is not a good wheat beer at all and I’m again disappointed. Firstly because wheat beer should not be hand pulled, this should really be served on draught.

Brewhouse and kitchen #WallsLayoff Unfined Wheat Beer Label

#WallsLayoff Unfined Wheat Beer

Overall

I love the concept of this place. A dream envisioned by beer entrepreneurs, hitting the chain circuit. The decor is splendid, the brew kit in the corner, all shiney and clad in copper. The food looks pretty darn good, and the place has all the adopted mantra of what Dogfish Head started all those years ago, albeit with a slight detour: The beer.

The general beer is quite watery, lacks sufficient hops for the style: in particular the American Pale Ale. Imagine expecting something like Beavertown Gamma Ray and getting something like Fullers ESB. Lovely. There was no house IPA on tap either. I must credit the place as having decent beers on tap including Weihenstephan on tap. Now that is something to marvel at. If this place got the beer right, with more hops, more body and possibly a bit more ABV (and style variation) I would have stayed all night. Instead, I experienced more chain pub than brewpub.

From Brouwerij Huyghe comes Delirium Nocturnum at 8.5%. De-capping gives a sweet caramel aroma, with a touch of chocolate and noble hoppiness. The pour is a reddy dark brown, generating an off white head that lingers fairly well. The carbonation is fairly high, which lends itself to a soft mouthfeel, but being simultaneously full bodied. There is a hint of bitterness hidden in the aftertaste, lent by either the roasty malts or the hops. This, combined with a subtle brown sugar maltiness and slightly dry finish at the end finishes the beer off nicely with just a hint of sourness.I really liked this one!